There are two important things that you should know about the ERA New Horizons Festival in Wroclaw, Poland. The first thing is that it’s set to become one of the most important and popular European film festivals on the circuit. The second thing is that Wroclaw is actually pronounced ‘Vrots–swav’. You better start pronouncing it right: you wouldn’t want to sound like an idiot when attending one of the biggest festivals in Europe, would you?
With more than 560 screenings over 10 days, ERA New Horizons exudes a vibe that is very similar to that of the Rotterdam Film Festival. With an eclectic selection of films, both in competition and in the panorama, retrospectives of Swedish and Canadian cinema, a great selection of live music performances in the festival club (where much vodka was also imbibed) and a general sense of excitement from the audiences (who were prepared to queue for hours to get into their preferred films) there was an exciting sense of discovery in the air. And that’s very much how I approached the festival: rather than have a masterplan of what to see, I dipped in and out of the programme and let the festival surprise me. And, to its credit, it did exactly that.
With Polish film festivals having a strong tradition in screening documentaries, it’s unsurprising that the genre was represented heavily across all the sections of the festival. Double Take was a curious piece in which found footage is used to parallel the career of Alfred Hitchcock (particularly around the time of The Birds) with American politics of the 1960s.
Whilst it sounds like a car crash of epic proportions, it actually works rather well as it tries to point out how events such as the Cuban Missile Crisis began to out-terrify anything that Hitchcock could ever conceive. Similarly, its themes of duality and celebrity attempt to point to a sea change in US – and world – politics in which image became much more important than reality. While the conceit is often muddled, there’s enough invention and intelligent use of existing footage to make this worth looking out for on the festival circuit.
The same goes for Fig Trees, John Greyson’s ‘operatic documentary’ (his description) about AIDS activists Tim McCaskell and Zackie Achmat.
Mixing archive footage of the two with such sights as a singing albino squirrel, this manages to undercut many of the conventions of the documentary form while still providing a strong and persuasive argument against those who would use AIDS sufferers as a way to make profit. Achmat and McCaskell’s stories – both of them stringent campaigners for the availability of drugs to control AIDS – are intertwined with brief histories of Queer culture and activism. Here, the lack of formality is a massive virtue creating an amazingly effective and informative piece of documentary cinema.
More low key is the Swedish documentary Mr Governor directed by Måns Månsson. Very reminiscent of the work of Fred Wiseman, this work of cinema verité follows Anders Björck, the governor of Uppsala, as he goes around his daily business of planning meetings with dignitaries, attending banquets and deciding if he can find time to say hello to the emperor of Japan.
The gorgeous black and white cinematography works well in a film that shows the other world of politics: this is not a world of cut and thrust. This is one in which every detail is worked out to the letter and in which kings and queens must be met at the correct time. There’s something faintly ridiculous about proceedings but Månsson never sets out to make fun of his subject, instead letting the world of local politics speak for itself.
Mention must also be made of Gideon Koppel’s brilliant Sleep Furiously, which I sadly missed on its theatrical run here in the UK. The poetic portrayal of a rural Welsh community and its inhabitants is one of the most affecting films I saw during the festival, with Koppel’s assured direction and some fine music from Aphex Twin making for a wonderful, if bittersweet, film. Look out for it at your local cinema if you can and, if it’s been and gone, look for a DVD release later in the year.
Away from the documentaries, other films that impressed included the rather sublime Australian animation $9.99 (top image) from director Tatia Rosenthal. Based on the writings of Etgar Keret, there’s a healthy dose of magical realism in the air as foul-mouthed angels mingle with hairless boyfriends and beautiful models to create an intriguing stop-motion film that’s both funny and moving.
Also good were many of the Polish films on offer, like Jerzy Skolomowski’s Four Nights With Anna, a slow paced but extremely well constructed drama about a loner who becomes obsessed with a girl with whom he already has a complicated past. Its delicate and careful plot is deftly handled and there are beautiful moments on offer here, all tinged with a slight air of melancholia and sadness (such as when our protagonist breaks into Anna’s house and paints her toenails).
Less successful was Forest, another languid piece about the relationship between a father and his son. Relying on imagery as opposed to dialogue, there’s some breathtaking cinematography but the film as a whole felt slightly incomprehensible and emotionally unfulfilling.
Though if you really want something that’s incomprehensible then I gladly point you in the direction of Snow White And Russian Red, directed by Xawery Zulawski (son of the legendary Polish director Andrzej Zulawski). Based on a famous Polish novel, this is a free-wheeling and energetic piece that makes very little sense for the uninitiated (though some of my Polish friends assure me that it barely makes much to them either).
At least the fire and passion mark it out from the formality that seems to constrict many other Polish features, and there’s something brilliantly fascinating about the film, even if the cultural references (and much more) are beyond reach. It managed to impress the jury enough to walk away with the prize for Best Polish Feature during the festival. Other highlights throughout the festival including the multi-César winning Seraphine (which had a strong central performance from Yolande Moreau, but felt slightly like it was constantly struggling to be a ‘quality’ film), the latest films from Almodóvar and Haneke, and the Brits walking away with the top prize of the festival for Hunger, which also guaranteed the film distribution in Poland.
That’s only a small selection of what was on offer, and there’s definitely a joy in being able to come out the other side of a festival knowing that you’ve picked up on some films that you may have never seen before. Certainly, with more than 120,000 tickets sold over the festival duration, the audiences seem to agree, and the festival organisers seemed almost surprised by the massive popularity. But its popularity never takes away from its intimacy, with the festival club and general atmosphere making it a great place for film fans to sit and chat and meet directors while enjoying a beer or two in the sunshine.
As it’s popularity and reputation grows – as it so richly deserves – let’s hope that ERA New Horizons manages to keep its programme full of diversity and excitement and not go down the road of many other major film festivals who can often lose their sense of adventure in return for a cosy ride from the industry. As long as it keeps looking forward, New Horizons will never get lost in the sunset.
Laurence Boyce would like to thank Agnieszka, Anna (all of you), Brian, Leo, Peter and the rest of the great people at ERA New Horizons.
